Setanta wrote:Ideologies such as communism are attractive to strong intellects who wish to control the society of which they are a part. It is rare indeed that any significant portion of a population enthusiastically adhere to a political or economic ideology in the same numbers and to the same extent that members of a population will adhere to a religious creed. If a true intellectual, such as Ho Chi Mihn, adheres to a particular ideology, it is impossible to escape the very justifiable suspicion that such an individual is motivated by a desire to control the society of which they are a part. [..] In ideological establishments, those who aspire to hierarchical success, those with ambition, seem only to seek the power which derives from successful promotion in the ideological hierarchy.
Well, that ideology has never commanded the loyalty of as large a portion of the population as religion is a given, nothing to dispute there. But among those who
did feverishly adhere to, believe in, work for an ideology - whether it be fascism, communism or other -isms - there are many kinds. That there were many who were in there for personal success, for social status or the sheer excitement of power - obvious. And I dare say they were consistently the ones who did make it to the top, too, who were the last to survive as any actual believer disappeared into the camps.
But there were also plenty of sincere believers; people who "worked for the cause" because they sincerely thought it would bring a better tomorrow. I'm not idealising their lives - in the case of communism or fascism, I'd call such people dangerously deluded, at best. But "believe" is what they did, whether they were one of the many who cheered and stamped in a frenzy of conviction as Hitler screamed his speech through the stadium, or one of the bright minds who wasted a lot of intellect on justifying the transition of post-WW2 states into communist dictatorship in elaborate articles.
Was their idealism, their belief pure? Is any belief? Of a Christian person's belief, how much is true, blissful conviction, how much is fear of hell, how much the sanctimonious urge to consider oneself better than others? Same with believers of ideology; yes, part of the temptation of communism for its intellectual believers was that, in return for voluntarily submitting their thought processes to the preordained structures of Marxist-Leninist theory, they were implied a 'special role' in enlightening the masses - a temptation to arouse the Messianistic in any intellectual. But does that really mean that they simply acted out of the desire to control society?
That seems very oversimplified. Was that temptation the snake-oil that helped them submit to the ideologically preordained tenets? Which they came to honestly believe, then not believe anymore but keep professing out of fear or self-interest - or any such divergent trajectory of delusion and disillusion, different for each one...
Perhaps they sincerely believed they were believers, whereas subconsciously it was all about power ... But how does that work for the rank-and-file believers, the housewives swooning (incredibly, to today's imagination) to Hitler's voice, the grannies still demonstrating in the Red Square whenever Zyuganov appeals to them, appealing to the truths of their ideology with little ratio, and much self-confirming, circular affirmations? Well, they get/got their sense of superiority from it too, one could dissect coldly, I suppose - but that's a psychologisation that one could equally apply to religious believers.
Setanta wrote:Once the woman explained to me her vision of the freedom she would bring to the oppressed African-Americans of that city. I pointed out that those men and women very likely aspired to the nice cars, the comfortable houses, the good food and the many consumer goods that they saw others enjoying, and that they would in no wise willingly support her revolutionary program. Her response was, condensed, that they didn't know what was good for them, that she did, and it was her unwavering goal to bring the revolution to them, without regard to what they might want.
But isn't that pretty much the exact same mentality of the Jehova's Witness banging on your door, of the people whom EdgarBlythe
just described in MA's thread? You only
think that all you want is prosperity and individual happiness, living the life you have, but I
know that what you really need is something bigger, something better, holier - I read about it in a book, and I now consider it my duty to convince you, too, for your own happiness - and even if I dont succeed, I will still live
my life fighting and praying for the better, holier world that you are not aware you need/want - and if I get my way, I will impose it too, for your own good ... ?
